i’m heading off to Birmingham this evening, to savour the next few days’ acousmatic delights and disorientation at the BEAST FEaST festival. Words to follow once i’m back next week.
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Announcements
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It’s no fewer than 40 years since the formation of BEAST – Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre, one of the leading organisations pioneering the creation and presentation of electronic music. To celebrate this milestone, next week Birmingham University will be hosting BEAST FEaST 2022, a four-day extravaganza of concerts, installations and…
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This year’s Proms season has been announced in the last few days, and alongside all the standard fare, there’s the usual small smattering of contemporary music to get mildly excited about. Scanning through the programme, the most immediate thing that leapt out was familiarity, even predictability, the festival in general…
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This morning i’m setting off for Tallinn, to explore the eclectic shenanigans at this year’s Estonian Music Days. Words to follow once i’m back later next week.
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i’m setting off this morning for Bergen, to attend Norway’s most discombobulating new music festival Borealis. Words to follow once i get back next week – and once i’ve begun to figure out what on earth i experienced.
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This morning i’m setting off for a week and a bit in Iceland, attending the Dark Music Days festival. In my absence – starting on Wednesday – this year’s Lent Series will begin (so only half a fermata this time); words to follow about all the goings-on in Reykjavík once…
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Announcements
Gigs, gigs, gigs: Dark Music Days, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Riot Ensemble, BBC Symphony Orchestra
by 5:4It’s tempting to hope that 2022 might finally bring an end to the widespread disruption that has plagued concerts and festivals for the last two years. With that optimism in mind, there are some interesting events to look forward to in the coming weeks.
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Having not set foot in the place for two years – which by now feels like an absolute aeon – i’m setting off today for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where i’ll (hopefully) be happily immersed for the next few days. Words to follow once i get back next week.
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First thing this morning – assuming i’ve completed all the right forms and done all the right tests and can present all the right results in all the right ways – i’m setting off for Norway to catch the second half of this year’s Ultima festival in Oslo. Back next…
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Somewhat against the odds – and also somewhat unexpectedly – i’m heading off this morning to the north of England for a holiday in Yorkshire. Back next week.
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This year’s Proms programme has begun, tentatively, to be unveiled. At present there remains a number of concerts where the content has not yet been announced – plus several ‘Mystery Proms’ – so there will be more to come, but thus far there are a few contemporary items to start…
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Another festival that’s recently been announced is an entirely new addition to the annual list of new music events. The Baltic Music Days is in initiative that seeks to bring together contemporary music from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. i first heard suggestions about the possibility of this festival a few…
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Following the almost complete write-off of 2020, festivals are continuing to be forced to rejig, reorganise and reconfigure their concerts this year due to ongoing restrictions. The 2021 Borealis festival in Bergen, Norway, has just been announced, and whereas last year it managed to take place just about normally before…
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It’s a work i’d very much like to write about in more depth at a later date, as there’s so much to say about it… i wrote those words following a concert that took place almost exactly a year ago, before the time when lockdowns were a thing and i…
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Forgot to say: my Best Beloved is fast approaching what can only be described as a ‘significant’ birthday this week, so i’m currently away on a not-quite-holiday-but-not-quite-not-holiday-either at the moment, during which i’ll be celebrating / commiserating as required. Back next week.
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This morning i’m setting off for Tallinn in Estonia where, after i’ve been Covid tested upon my arrival – and assuming my result is negative – i’ll be catching some of this year’s postponed Estonian Music Days. From Tuesday, the concerts will also be broadcast live on the country’s classical…
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During the last few months it’s been disheartening and downright depressing to see one festival after another forced to cancel or postpone their events due to the pandemic. So it’s exciting to see that things are tentatively starting to get going again, and among the first to throw open their…
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i want to give a big shout-out and a heads-up for a new book that’s just been published, which includes a chapter by me. Sound and Image: Aesthetics and Practices had its inception at the Sound/Image conference at the University of Greenwich in late 2018. Edited by Andrew Knight-Hill, the…
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A few days ago marked the 25th anniversary of my father’s death. It seems like such an impossibly long time ago, yet his all-too-brief presence in my life, and all-too-long absence from it, continue to resonate in me and make their mark in my life and in my music. Back…
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i feel terribly sad to have just read the news on the Schott website that Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki has died today. Composers impact on our lives in unique and unpredictable ways, and for me, Penderecki’s music has been an omnipresence. When i was still at school, just at the…